Rain Partier

Tempers flared on the Twitter tonight when Superior Spider-Man scribe Dan Slott took issue with Bleeding Cool mogul Rich Johnston's spoilage of Batman #28 in a "Twit Longer" post, which defeats the purpose of Twitter by allowing you to post a long ass diatribe like this:

Dear @richjohnston & @bleedingcool, please stop posting spoilers-- ESPECIALLY the last pages-- of books on the day they come out.

It is a terrible practice and it makes it harder and harder for storytellers to deliver ANY kind of surprises to the readers.

If you think ANYONE who worked on BATMAN #28 appreciated what you did last Wednesday, you're 100% wrong. Period. End stop.

There was absolutely NO need to post that full page scan of the end of their book-- before everyone in the U.S. market even had a CHANCE to go to a store and pick up a physical copy.

It doesn't matter how many spoiler warnings you put up on your site. You're disseminating that image to your readers-- who will then go out and spread it around the web. You know that.

It's just bad form. Please stop.

If you care about this industry, these characters, and the people who make these comics-- let storytellers do their job and TRY to deliver surprises once in a while DURING the stories they're telling.

I don't care if other sites get these images out. Or if there are other places on the web where people can find them first. WHO CARES? Your site gets traffic anyway. You don't need the extra clicks that badly.

Please show some restraint. Please exhibit courtesy towards both the people who make the comics and the readers who don't wish to see things spoiled ahead of time. At least please wait till the people who have 9-to-5 jobs have a chance to go to their comic shops after work, and read the issues themselves before you go spoiling any of the endings.

Please.

Johnston, who constantly monitors social media and Google for any disparaging messages about him, responded quickly in the form of eight billion skillion tweets (note: have javascript enabled so you can see the tweets Johnston is responding to, or else it will look like he is just yelling into the ether - admittedly amusing, but inaccurate):

@DanSlott Dan, you are making some incorrect assumptions. I have emailed you.

We do appreciate Dan's frustration with spoilers, but is he aware that he works for Marvel, which, along with DC , spoils its own events in the mainstream press whenever they can get USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, or the Washington Post to pay attention to them? We've written about this extensively in the past:

Alright, you know what? We were wrong. Twit Longer is a good thing, and Rich should start using it. Know this: we did not embed every tweet. It was actually longer than that. Not to worry though, Rich and Dan are still friends:

So yeah, that happened, and if you think it's pretty sad, then think about how sad it is that I just spent forty-five minutes embedding all those tweets into this article. There are no winners here. Well, except, you readers.

UPDATE: Bleeding Cool decided to rip off our ripping them off and publish their own Fanboy Rampage. We were gonna be super mad, until we saw that they ended it with a tweet from Bald Reporter Jeremy Shane, so it's all good. I'd also like to note, on a personal level because a commenter here accused me of having it in for Bleeding Cool - it's my favorite site on the internet besides The Outhouse. We only hurt the ones we love, Walter.

Fanboy Rampage was a blog by Graeme McMillan dedicated to the funniest, most ludicrous and most inappropriate comic book back-and-forths online. McMillan has moved on now, becoming a proper journalist for the likes of Newsarama and Spinoff but he gave permission to Bleeding Cool to revive his great creation. We're copying it from Bleeding Cool without permission because parody.

Tempers flared on the Twitter tonight when Superior Spider-Man scribe Dan Slott took issue with Bleeding Cool mogul Rich Johnston's spoilage of Batman #28 in a "Twit Longer" post, which defeats the purpose of Twitter by allowing you to post a long ass diatribe like this:

Dear @richjohnston & @bleedingcool, please stop posting spoilers-- ESPECIALLY the last pages-- of books on the day they come out.

It is a terrible practice and it makes it harder and harder for storytellers to deliver ANY kind of surprises to the readers.

If you think ANYONE who worked on BATMAN #28 appreciated what you did last Wednesday, you're 100% wrong. Period. End stop.

There was absolutely NO need to post that full page scan of the end of their book-- before everyone in the U.S. market even had a CHANCE to go to a store and pick up a physical copy.

It doesn't matter how many spoiler warnings you put up on your site. You're disseminating that image to your readers-- who will then go out and spread it around the web. You know that.

It's just bad form. Please stop.

If you care about this industry, these characters, and the people who make these comics-- let storytellers do their job and TRY to deliver surprises once in a while DURING the stories they're telling.

I don't care if other sites get these images out. Or if there are other places on the web where people can find them first. WHO CARES? Your site gets traffic anyway. You don't need the extra clicks that badly.

Please show some restraint. Please exhibit courtesy towards both the people who make the comics and the readers who don't wish to see things spoiled ahead of time. At least please wait till the people who have 9-to-5 jobs have a chance to go to their comic shops after work, and read the issues themselves before you go spoiling any of the endings.

Please.

Johnston, who constantly monitors social media and Google for any disparaging messages about him, responded quickly in the form of eight billion skillion tweets (note: have javascript enabled so you can see the tweets Johnston is responding to, or else it will look like he is just yelling into the ether - admittedly amusing, but inaccurate):

@DanSlott Dan, you are making some incorrect assumptions. I have emailed you.

We do appreciate Dan's frustration with spoilers, but is he aware that he works for Marvel, which, along with DC , spoils its own events in the mainstream press whenever they can get USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, or the Washington Post to pay attention to them? We've written about this extensively in the past:

Alright, you know what? We were wrong. Twit Longer is a good thing, and Rich should start using it. Know this: we did not embed every tweet. It was actually longer than that. Not to worry though, Rich and Dan are still friends:

So yeah, that happened, and if you think it's pretty sad, then think about how sad it is that I just spent forty-five minutes embedding all those tweets into this article. There are no winners here. Well, except, you readers.

UPDATE: Bleeding Cool decided to rip off our ripping them off and publish their own Fanboy Rampage. We were gonna be super mad, until we saw that they ended it with a tweet from Bald Reporter Jeremy Shane, so it's all good. I'd also like to note, on a personal level because a commenter here accused me of having it in for Bleeding Cool - it's my favorite site on the internet besides The Outhouse. We only hurt the ones we love, Walter.

Fanboy Rampage was a blog by Graeme McMillan dedicated to the funniest, most ludicrous and most inappropriate comic book back-and-forths online. McMillan has moved on now, becoming a proper journalist for the likes of Newsarama and Spinoff but he gave permission to Bleeding Cool to revive his great creation. We're copying it from Bleeding Cool without permission because parody.

Staff Writer

We do appreciate Dan's frustration with spoilers, but is he aware that he works for Marvel, which, along with DC , spoils its own events in the mainstream press whenever they can get USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, or the Washington Post to pay attention to them? We've written about this extensively in the past:

I could care less about the spoiler crying. They are there and optional for readers to check out. They don't want to be spoiled, don't read them. If other sites are running them without warnings, then Slott needs to call them out instead.

Staff Writer

We do appreciate Dan's frustration with spoilers, but is he aware that he works for Marvel, which, along with DC , spoils its own events in the mainstream press whenever they can get USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, or the Washington Post to pay attention to them? We've written about this extensively in the past:

I could care less about the spoiler crying. They are there and optional for readers to check out. They don't want to be spoiled, don't read them. If other sites are running them without warnings, then Slott needs to call them out instead.

Fish-Smackin' Knight

Dan Slott is seriously the WORST. He's the epitome of fat nerdy loser. I agree with Johnston every step of the way and his spoilers are 50% of the reason I generally read BC. I am not afraid of spoilers like every other loser on the internet. They dont change anything, especially if you havent seen/read/ or heard the full story with your own eyes yet.

Fish-Smackin' Knight

Dan Slott is seriously the WORST. He's the epitome of fat nerdy loser. I agree with Johnston every step of the way and his spoilers are 50% of the reason I generally read BC. I am not afraid of spoilers like every other loser on the internet. They dont change anything, especially if you havent seen/read/ or heard the full story with your own eyes yet.

Rain Partier

I gave up reading that a quarter of the way through. Then I kept wondering "how much longer do I need to scroll through this shit"...

Don't agree with this point of Rich's though:

Rich Johnston @richjohnston@DanSlott When they could have already picked them up from ComiXology six hours earlier?

If the UK stores are anything like the stores here I get them a on earlier based on how long it takes Diamond to fly them to another corner of the world. I don't even think they come out on comixology until about 10 or so hrs after I'm able to get them from my LCS and I think I've seen him post spoilers 2 hrs after I pick up my books like the time he posted an iphone video of him on a train flipping through an entire issue of amazing spider-man while hovering over specifically spoilery pages.

Me posting a thread about the latest way Slott stomped on Zechs heart (the Hobgoblin decaptitation) is a bit different from a site like BC using the time zone and convenient shipping times to spoil a book for more ad revenue.

There are some things companies want spoiled, there are other things they prefer to wait for zero day when people discover it in their books. I doubt Rich spoiling a Green Team book early made that book a sales success like he claims

Rain Partier

I gave up reading that a quarter of the way through. Then I kept wondering "how much longer do I need to scroll through this shit"...

Don't agree with this point of Rich's though:

Rich Johnston @richjohnston@DanSlott When they could have already picked them up from ComiXology six hours earlier?

If the UK stores are anything like the stores here I get them a on earlier based on how long it takes Diamond to fly them to another corner of the world. I don't even think they come out on comixology until about 10 or so hrs after I'm able to get them from my LCS and I think I've seen him post spoilers 2 hrs after I pick up my books like the time he posted an iphone video of him on a train flipping through an entire issue of amazing spider-man while hovering over specifically spoilery pages.

Me posting a thread about the latest way Slott stomped on Zechs heart (the Hobgoblin decaptitation) is a bit different from a site like BC using the time zone and convenient shipping times to spoil a book for more ad revenue.

There are some things companies want spoiled, there are other things they prefer to wait for zero day when people discover it in their books. I doubt Rich spoiling a Green Team book early made that book a sales success like he claims

Founder of The Outhouse

I'm not reading all of those tweets but I'm on Rich's side. Every so often, there seems to be this big problem with people spoiling comic books. The problem is great stories are great regardless of whether or not you know what happens. How many people out there re-read comics and books or re-watch tv shows and movies? Everybody does this. I'm literally watching a repeat of an episode of Bob's Burgers right now. Is my enjoyment diminished because I knew what was going to happen?

Furthermore, like I mention people re-read great stories or know what the story is of a great story before they read it. I did it with The Killing Joke and I'm sure everyone does. My point is that when creators go after people for revealing spoilers, it's like they're saying that their stories are not good enough to enjoy with knowing what happens in it,

These same situation arise not too long ago with Peter David and an issue of X-Factor. The spoilers made me want to read the issue but David's attitude made it so I didn't.

Founder of The Outhouse

I'm not reading all of those tweets but I'm on Rich's side. Every so often, there seems to be this big problem with people spoiling comic books. The problem is great stories are great regardless of whether or not you know what happens. How many people out there re-read comics and books or re-watch tv shows and movies? Everybody does this. I'm literally watching a repeat of an episode of Bob's Burgers right now. Is my enjoyment diminished because I knew what was going to happen?

Furthermore, like I mention people re-read great stories or know what the story is of a great story before they read it. I did it with The Killing Joke and I'm sure everyone does. My point is that when creators go after people for revealing spoilers, it's like they're saying that their stories are not good enough to enjoy with knowing what happens in it,

These same situation arise not too long ago with Peter David and an issue of X-Factor. The spoilers made me want to read the issue but David's attitude made it so I didn't.

Fish-Smackin' Knight

Way I see it, most of the comic "news" sites have no idea how to report on comics, and a lot of the comic companies would rather they go away so they could control their own reporting anyway.

There is very little respect shown by the sites that report on comics to the comics themselves. But, let's be frank... That's just as much a statement about the fans as well. And the companies like Marvel and DC show the same amount in return, to fans, bloggers, retailers. Making back-alley deals with Wizard on things like the Death of Captain America, so they can report on it to hype it up, but also be the only ones with stock to sell because every other retailer had no clue what was coming.

And yes, honestly, sometimes it seems like the companies don't care about the creators either. Slott was pretty bothered that his Spidey reveal was done so far ahead of things, and that had to come from the publisher first. Do spoilers matter? For some people they do. You can say it doesn't change your enjoyment of a story, but a lot of people like to take the journey on their own, and there's the idea now with blogs and social media that is just out to ruin that. I know people who have to actively stay offline because they're on the West Coast when the East Coast is already watching things like Breaking Bad or Walking Dead. If they can't get to the show until the next day, they're even more screwed. And some people actively enjoy spoiling stuff.

But here's the crux of it: Spoilers aren't news. That's not reporting, is it? Also, in reviews, just telling people point by point what happens in the comic isn't an actual review. I think we're more seeing that people who run a lot of these sites just don't know a single thing about reporting or journalism. But then, who should they look to as an example these days?

Thing is, Rich is probably not capable of understanding Dan's point of view because no one cares enough about spoilers from Avatar's books.

Fish-Smackin' Knight

Way I see it, most of the comic "news" sites have no idea how to report on comics, and a lot of the comic companies would rather they go away so they could control their own reporting anyway.

There is very little respect shown by the sites that report on comics to the comics themselves. But, let's be frank... That's just as much a statement about the fans as well. And the companies like Marvel and DC show the same amount in return, to fans, bloggers, retailers. Making back-alley deals with Wizard on things like the Death of Captain America, so they can report on it to hype it up, but also be the only ones with stock to sell because every other retailer had no clue what was coming.

And yes, honestly, sometimes it seems like the companies don't care about the creators either. Slott was pretty bothered that his Spidey reveal was done so far ahead of things, and that had to come from the publisher first. Do spoilers matter? For some people they do. You can say it doesn't change your enjoyment of a story, but a lot of people like to take the journey on their own, and there's the idea now with blogs and social media that is just out to ruin that. I know people who have to actively stay offline because they're on the West Coast when the East Coast is already watching things like Breaking Bad or Walking Dead. If they can't get to the show until the next day, they're even more screwed. And some people actively enjoy spoiling stuff.

But here's the crux of it: Spoilers aren't news. That's not reporting, is it? Also, in reviews, just telling people point by point what happens in the comic isn't an actual review. I think we're more seeing that people who run a lot of these sites just don't know a single thing about reporting or journalism. But then, who should they look to as an example these days?

Thing is, Rich is probably not capable of understanding Dan's point of view because no one cares enough about spoilers from Avatar's books.

FACEBOOKTron

I know this is kind of the "Outhousers- house style" but I think you should have added at least a few of Slott's follow up tweets instead of making it appear as if Rich was the only one constantly repeating the same 4-5 arguments.

One has to wonder what beef the Outhousers haver with Johnston and BC, given the tenor of recent articles.

FACEBOOKTron

I know this is kind of the "Outhousers- house style" but I think you should have added at least a few of Slott's follow up tweets instead of making it appear as if Rich was the only one constantly repeating the same 4-5 arguments.

One has to wonder what beef the Outhousers haver with Johnston and BC, given the tenor of recent articles.

Outhouse Drafter

Rich is always the easy target because he's the black* sheep of the comics 'news' industry. He's right to point out Slott's hypocrisy over not railing against CBR and other 'news' sites when they do the same thing.It's smart for Slott to bark at Rich b/c most of the industry will pat him on the back; if Slott went after CBR, he'd probably get ostracized for messing with the P.R. cogs in the machine.

Outhouse Drafter

Rich is always the easy target because he's the black* sheep of the comics 'news' industry. He's right to point out Slott's hypocrisy over not railing against CBR and other 'news' sites when they do the same thing.It's smart for Slott to bark at Rich b/c most of the industry will pat him on the back; if Slott went after CBR, he'd probably get ostracized for messing with the P.R. cogs in the machine.